Research Database
OsloMet’s Research Database
Challenge Area
OsloMet, a large public university in Oslo, Norway, offers hundreds of diverse academic programs and research initiatives. Each research project must be registered with the university, accompanied by a comprehensive list of required information. Researchers often feel overwhelmed by the extensive tasks and frequently forget to complete fields or entire pages of information, leading to additional work for those who need to follow up. Addressing these challenges is crucial to enable researchers and project participants to input, manage, and share extensive research data effectively.
Possible Solution
A UX and accessibility audit is essential to identify the pain points of the research database. These aspects can then be addressed through the development of prototypes, providing the first steps towards creating an efficient and user-friendly research database. Suggested changes to the database aim to support effective data management and collaboration within the university's research community, in addition to prioritising structure and accessibility standards.
Approach
While the audit project had a timeline of three weeks, the overall project followed an Agile approach. This allowed for continuous customer feedback and iterative development of design suggestions, ensuring a clear understanding of the system, user needs and overall project goals.
User research
My Role
As a UX researcher, I collaborated with another UX designer to analyze the user experience and conduct a UX audit. Through workshops, I gathered insights on user needs, system integration, and digitalization goals. Using Miro and Figma, I mapped the functionalities and design aspects causing challenges for users, as well as assessed compliance with universal design principles and WCAG 2.1 standards. I presented these findings and improvements in person to stakeholders.
User experience audit
Sketching
Universal design
Workshops
Prototyping
Mapping
Public speaking
Setting goals
To initiate the project, we needed to understand the project's needs and goals for the audit. We began with workshops involving the project team and end users to gain insights into the database's use and its integration with various subject systems. This understanding allowed us to plan the scope of the audit to align with OsloMet's goals for the digitization of research data.
We defined the following three goals:
Identify users' challenges
Assess the effectiveness of features
Suggest intuitive and user-friendly improvements
Problem Statement
Researchers and project collaborators find the database to be complex and unintuitive to navigate and complete.
Mapping the system
User Journey
We examined the entire user journey, from logging in to creating their own research project and navigating the overview of all projects. We made notes as we tried to navigate through the database without any prior knowledge of the system. This comprehensive testing helped us identify immediate pain points and areas for improvement throughout the user's experience.
Mapping
We gathered screenshots of the entire solution and organized them in Miro. This approach enabled us to systematically address the challenges by reviewing each part of the system in detail.
The database was structured in a table format within Miro: horizontally, we mapped out each main page or functionality, while vertically, we tracked the steps or changes in the interface as users navigated through the page. Sticky notes were used to annotate each screenshot with comments or observations. This layout facilitated a collaborative process, allowing team members to highlight and discuss all aspects effectively, ensuring that every issue was identified and addressed.
Creating a design
I evaluated the most critical, straightforward, yet impactful challenges of the design and set about visualising possible solutions. Collaborating with another designer, I used Figma to create sketches that highlighted key suggestions for addressing the most significant deviations identified in the findings. The prototype was made interactive to allow for presentation to the project team, facilitating feedback and iterative refinement.
Presenting the results
I structured the findings for the audit and the proposed improvements in a clear and organized way, ensuring that it was easily understandable. These were presented to the staff at OsloMet.
During the presentation, I detailed the identified issues, the rationale behind the suggested changes, and how these improvements would address the users' needs and enhance the overall functionality of the system. This approach facilitated a thorough discussion, enabling staff members to provide feedback and contribute to refining the proposed solutions.